


We're Here For You-It Takes Two

by MotherOfBeardedDragons



Category: Daredevil (TV), Doctor Strange (2016), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Gen, Hurt Matt Murdock, Hurt Stephen Strange, I'm late but it's fine, Sickfic, Whump, Whumptober 2018, Wong is a Good Bro (Marvel), injuries, magical sicknesses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-12-14
Packaged: 2019-08-20 12:32:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16555826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MotherOfBeardedDragons/pseuds/MotherOfBeardedDragons
Summary: Stephen has exhausted himself physically and magically, but when Clint comes to him and tells him Matt's been stabbed by a magical item and is sick, he knows he has to help. Even if that means pushing himself over the edge. With Matt and Stephen down it's up to Clint and Wong to look after them. Easier said than done when dealing with stubborn, combative idiots who refuse to admit when they're hurt or sick.





	1. Two Down

**Author's Note:**

> I missed Whumptober, I had a lot going on, but I really wanted to participate. So I crammed a bunch of prompts into one story. (Insomnia, drugged, “No, stop,” fever, bruises, exhaustion, concussion, bedridden, restraints, broken ribs, caregiver, showdown). This is just 100% shameless whump with some plot. 
> 
> I am not a medical expert, so while I tried to do research it's not going to be completely accurate. Sorry for any glaring errors.

   This really hadn’t been a good day. Stephen had been woken up early in the morning to deal with an interdimensional threat. The threat, of course, had not been cooperative and it had been a long drawn out fight. 

   He could have easily just vaporized them, but he had wanted to subdue them with as little harm as possible. After several hours, and a lot of magic, he had gotten them to retreat and had sealed off their dimension so they wouldn’t try again. He had returned to the Sanctum exhausted. 

   He had gone to bed late after studying new spells and had been woken up extremely early, so he had probably only gotten about four hours of sleep. Normally he could deal with that, you couldn’t get through medical school and become a surgeon without learning how to run on little to no sleep, but he had used a lot of magic. He was beginning to learn about the cost of using magic and it’s unpleasant side effects. It made sense; channeling magic through a human body took its toll. He had used a lot today but hadn’t overdone it at least. He just needed to rest for a few hours. Right now he was shaky, a little dizzy, and slightly nauseous. He would eat something light and get some sleep. 

   He had walked into the kitchen when he heard a knock at the door. He groaned loudly. Wong was at Kamar Taj dealing with some things at the moment. He slowly made his way towards the door, the cloak supporting him somewhat. Maybe it would just be a salesperson and he could drop them through a portal like he did the last one. He opened the door to find Clint Barton. He was still tempted to drop him through a portal. 

   He then noticed Clint’s slightly panicked expression. It was not a normal look for the archer; something was happening.

   “It’s Matt. Something’s hit him, I don’t know what. But he needs help,” Clint explained before Stephen could ask what was happening. 

   “Is he hurt?,” Stephen asked. 

   “Yeah, but it’s not too bad. It’s just...well. I think whatever hit him was some sort of magic.”

   “Where is he?,” Stephen asked putting on his sling ring. He should have enough magical energy left to open a portal there, stabilize Matt, and open a portal to Kamar Taj to take Matt to a healer. 

   “About six blocks away. We were out following a lead, the rest of the team is away on different missions. We were supposed to be following a gang but apparently we found some sort of cult.” 

   Stephen shrugged off the cloak. “Guard the Sanctum. If anything happens go through the door to Kamar Taj,” he requested. The cloak hovered beside him for a moment then slowly moved to hover at the bottom of the stairs. Stephen hated to leave the cloak but he needed someone to guard the Sanctum. And it would be a quick trip. They just had to get Murdock out and take him to Kamar Taj.

   “So weird,” Clint said under his breath, shaking his head. He had seen a lot of weird shit over the years, but that didn’t really make weird things less weird. Stephen glared at him. 

   Clint gave him the street address and he opened a portal in front of the building. The area was deserted.

   Stephen ignored the way the portal sparked erratically and stepped through after Clint, lowering a shaking hand and closing the portal. He took a deep breath against the dizziness and nausea. He could work through it. He wouldn’t be doing anyone any good if he passed out. He should have just called Wong, but he didn’t know how bad Matt was. He just wanted to get there as quick as possible. 

   He followed Clint through the side entrance and found Matt leaned against the wall, his helmet by his side. He had a cut on his head, but it wasn’t too deep and the bleeding had seemed to slow. He was shivering and seemed disoriented. 

   “Matt, do you know where you are?,” Stephen asked kneeling beside him. He put a hand on his shoulder carefully, trying not to startle him. He really didn’t want to take a punch from Daredevil. Matt flinched, but fortunately didn’t lash out. 

   “Warehouse. Was out with Clint,” Matt replied slowly. “Is he ok?” 

   “I’m good. I’m right here,” Clint replied. 

   “Sorry. My senses are all off.”

   “I think you have a fever,” Stephen stated, lightly putting a hand on Matt’s forehead. He could feel the heat. 

   “Wasn’t sick this morning. Only after they hit me with that...thing,” Matt said with a sigh. 

   Stephen held out a hand and let a small wave of gold energy flow over Matt. He could see what the problem was. Someone had used an artifact against him, it was what was making him sick. He had seen something like this once before, when he and Wong had been fighting against a rogue sorcerer. Someone in their party had been stabbed by  an artifact; there was a flash of light and they had immediately fallen ill. Stephen looked over Matt and found blood where his shoulder and neck met, just above the clavicle. They must have managed to wedge it between his mask and the collar of his suit. He carefully wiped away some of the blood, apologizing to Matt when he took in a sharp breath in pain, and saw the distinctive three pronged mark. This was definitely a magical sickness. 

   “I know what this is. We need to get him to a healer. We can take him to Kamar Taj,” Stephen explained. 

   “Can’t you do it? You’re a doctor,” Clint asked concerned. Matt had gotten worse in the past half hour. 

   “It’d be better if someone that’s an expert in healing looked at him. He’s stable for now,” Stephen replied, pulling out his phone, “I’ll let Wong know we’re coming.” 

   He held back a sigh of frustration at his shaking fingers. He had gotten better at texting since the accident, but it was still sometimes a struggle. His hands were shaking a little worse than usual right now on account of his exhaustion and excessive use of magic. The quicker they got Matt to Kamar Taj the better. He really needed to rest. 

   He finally finished the text message and hit send. Thank the gods for autocorrect. 

   “You have a phone?,” Clint asked in surprise.

   “What, did you think we used ravens?,” Stephen replied, rolling his eyes. He didn’t know why the hell everyone was surprised he owned a cell phone. 

   “You didn’t share your number with the team,” Clint replied. 

   “Yes I did. Steve has it, Tony has it, Bruce has it.”

   “I have his number,” Matt said with a weak smirk. 

   “What the hell man?,” Clint asked.

   “Look, some of us don’t want to be spammed with a million pictures of your dog each day. Can we focus on the problem at hand,” Stephen replied, gesturing to Matt. 

   “You’re missing out. Lucky’s adorable,” Clint muttered as he made his way over to Matt. 

   “Get ready to get him up when I open the portal,” Stephen explained. He didn’t know how long he could keep it open, but he wouldn’t tell them that. The exhaustion was really catching up with him. 

   Matt groaned as Clint pulled him up. “You ok?,” Clint asked with concerned. 

   “Yeah, just everything hurts. Think one of my ribs is broken,” Matt mumbled. He felt the sharp pain in his right side, where he had fallen after getting stabbed by that damn magical thing. This was on top of his aching muscles from the fever and the stinging stab wound on his neck. 

   Clint knew Matt was really not feeling well if he was admitting to being in pain. He would try not to jostle him too much. 

   “Ready?,” Stephen asked. He was asking himself as much as Clint really. He saw Clint nod and made the motion with his hand to open the portal. His hands were shaking and he saw some blackness in the corners of his vision. Clint moved forward quickly, almost to the portal, when there was a loud slam. 

   Stephen’s concentration broke and the portal collapsed. He cursed as he looked around. Normally, a loud noise wouldn’t interrupt his focus like that, but he was off his  game right now. And he wasn’t sure he’d be able to reopen the portal. He located the source of the noise. Someone had slammed the door shut. Clint ran over and tried to pry it open with no luck. Someone had locked them in. 

   “We need to get out of here,” Clint stated, coming back over. He picked Matt up again, who was even more out of it, and looked at Stephen. 

   “I’ll try,” Stephen said shakily. He was feeling worse by the second. All he needed to do was get them through. He could pass out on the other side. He took a deep breath and moved his hands. They were shaking so badly that he could barely make a circle. There were sparks but a portal wasn’t opening. 

   “Are you ok?,” Clint asked, concerned. He had thought Strange looked rough. Now he could see he was clearly exhausted. 

   “Fine. Almost there,” Stephen said through gritted teeth. He took another deep breath and pulled harder on his magic. He could feel his knees starting to buckle. The sparks were growing stronger. All of a sudden there was a blinding flash all around them. Stephen fell to the ground, bracing himself with his hands on instinct and cried out in pain as he felt the stabbing sensation. He fell onto his side, hard. His vision went black and he slipped into unconsciousness. 

   The first thing Stephen noticed was the throbbing pain in his hands. It was better than the stabbing shooting pain from earlier when he had landed on them. He opened his eyes slowly to see a glow around them. He sat up quickly and immediately regretted the decision as he almost blacked out again. He felt someone lower him back down.

   “Easy Strange, we need you conscious,” Clint said. Stephen looked up to see the archer beside him. He saw Matt lying on the ground on Clint’s other side. 

   “How is he?,” Stephen asked raspily. His throat was dry. 

   “Worse. I think his fever’s higher. He’s delirious. He keeps having nightmares about Elektra and someone named Stick.” 

   “We need to get out of here,” Stephen replied, sitting up with a groan. His right side hurt from where he had fallen. Fortunately he didn’t think anything was broken.   

   “Yeah, slight problem with that,” Clint said, gesturing to the glowing around them. It was some sort of forcefield. Stephen tried to reach for his magic and couldn’t. It was some sort of magical seal. 

   “Shit,” Stephen muttered. Breaking this sort of barrier would take a good deal of magic on a normal day. It would be almost impossible right now. He pulled out his phone to call Wong. 

   “No signal. I already tried,” Clint stated. “I’ve tried everything I can think of to get through this damn thing. And Matt’s still not doing too great.”

   Stephen moved to check on the former vigilante. He was concerned to see his pulse was higher and he definitely felt warmer. Matt flinched at his touch.

   “I have to break this seal,” Stephen finally said in resignation and determination. He was at the end of his rope, but they had to get out of here. 

   “There’s got to be another way out,” Clint said in frustration. He knew Stephen wasn’t doing well at all; but he was their only chance of escape. Clint had tried everything else. He hated feeling so damn useless. His bow was on the other side of  the room, outside the barrier. It wouldn’t do him any good right now, but he’d feel better with it. 

   “The only way out is to break through,” Stephen said with a sigh. “If I meditate for a while I should be able to do it. But…”

   “What?,” Clint asked, waiting for him to finish his thought.

   “This is going to take a lot of energy, more than I have,” Stephen grudgingly admitted. He hated showing weakness, but Clint needed to know what was going to happen. “This will probably knock me out. You’re going to be on your own. Wong is expecting us in Kamar Taj, when we don’t show up he should come looking for us. He can help you.”

   “Why don’t we just wait for him?,” Clint asked. He really didn’t like the idea of waiting around, but he didn’t want Stephen to hurt himself. 

   “I don’t want to risk waiting,” Stephen replied, “I can break the barrier. It’ll be up to you to move me and Matt somewhere safe until help comes.” Stephen trusted him. 

   Clint sighed, “I hate this plan. But I guess it’s the only one we’ve got.”

   Stephen nodded in agreement. He wasn’t exactly looking forward to this. He settled into a seated position and closed his eyes. He let his mind relax in the familiar way. He slowly eased himself into a mindset where he could focus his energy. He knew he had very little magical energy left. But if he could focus it all in one quick burst it should crack the barrier. He allowed himself a few minutes to gather the energy and aim it. Then he inhaled sharply and lashed out at the barrier.

   It felt like he had been punched. He fell backward, glad that Clint was behind him to catch him. He saw the blast of energy hit the barrier and it flicker then go out. He closed his eyes against the wave of dizziness and fatigue as darkness overtook him. 

   Clint sprang into action. He carefully lowered Strange to the ground and quickly checked his pulse- it was steady. He then ran and grabbed his bow and quiver and went over to Matt. The former vigilante groaned as he dragged him towards the door. 

   Clint kept an eye on Strange’s unconscious form as he pulled Matt to the exit. He’d get him somewhere safe then come back for Stephen. There was no way he could carry them both. He wished Strange had his cloak; that definitely would have helped. 

   Suddenly there was a sound from the corner of the room. Clint lowered Matt down quickly and nocked an arrow, facing the sound. There was a flash of light. Clint braced himself. He knew he didn’t really stand a chance against magic, but he was going to fight. An arrow in the eye would stop even the most powerful sorcerer for a minute. 

   He relaxed the arm pulling back his bow when Wong stepped out of the portal. He had never been so relieved to see someone. 

   “Oh thank fuck. I have no idea what’s happening. Matt’s been stabbed by some artifact and is sick. Strange is out cold. There’s a cult somewhere,” Clint said with exasperation. 

   “I got Stephen’s message,” Wong said heading over to Matt. He waved a hand over his unconscious form, like Strange had done earlier, as a gold wave washed over Matt. Wong nodded. “He’s going to be ok. I have something back at the Sanctum that will help.”

   “That’s good. What about Strange?,” Clint asked as Wong went over to his unconscious friend. 

   “Exhaustion. He’s used too much magic today. He’ll be okay. They’ll both be pretty miserable for a couple of days but they’ll recover. We need to get them back to the Sanctum.” 

   Wong opened a portal and both men jumped when a blur of red came rushing at them. The cloak flew and draped itself over Stephen. 

   “There you are,” Clint said. That would at least save them from having to drag both men through the portal. “I still can’t believe he left the cloak to guard the Sanctum.”

   Wong raised an eyebrow, “The cloak is an ancient artifact. It is highly intelligent and very strong.”

   “What would it do? Smother the intruder?” 

   “The cloak could go for help. But I’ve seen it fight, I wouldn’t underestimate the Cloak of Levitation. It’s an ancient artifact. We don’t know too much about it,” Wong explained as the two of them carried Matt through the portal. The cloak floated behind them, carrying Strange. The cloak slapped Clint on the back of the head as it went by. 

   “Hey!,” Clint said, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.” It had been such a weird day. He had fought a cult, gotten trapped in a magic glowing circle, and now he was apologizing to a floating blanket. Wong smirked. 

   Wong led the way through a doorway. Clint had never been in this part of the Sanctum. Then again, he had only been by a few times. He was always amazed at the size of the place. It was pretty unassuming on the outside, but inside it was like a whole  other world. He was still convinced there was some TARDIS-like magic going on; bigger on the inside. 

   “The healing chamber. All of the sanctums have one,” Wong explained as he led Clint into a decent sized room. There were three beds, some chairs, and cabinets and counters filled with an assortment of medical supplies, potions, books, and artifacts. It was like a hospital had met a witch’s lair. “This one didn’t get a lot of use until Stephen came to live here. He’s one of the few sorcerers I’ve met that manages to come up with new and creative ways to maim himself.”

   Wong and Clint carefully put Matt on one of the beds as the Cloak gently laid Stephen on another. They took off Matt’s boots and the outer armor of his suit, leaving him in the more comfortable black clothes he wore underneath. Matt had tried to fight them off, muttering under his breath, but Clint had managed to calm him down for now. He seemed to recognize his voice even if he wasn’t completely lucid. 

   The two shuffled around the cloak and managed to get off Stephen’s boots and his outer robes leaving him in a loose shirt and pants. The two stepped back to catch their breath. Trying to move an unconscious grownass man was hard work. Not to mention two. 

   “Now what? Are you going to get a healer?,” Clint asked. 

   Wong shook his head. “We can take care of them here. I’ve sent groups of sorcerers out to search for the cult. That seemed to be the priority since neither of them are in immediate danger.”

   Clint nodded. “Ok, what do we do?”

   Wong was relieved that Clint was going to help. He had figured he would, but he still appreciated it. It was going to be a tough day or two caring for two very stubborn and self destructive people who were sick. 


	2. Unwilling Patients

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint and Wong may have underestimated how much a pain in the ass taking care of their friends would be. They're dealing with two stubborn and snarky individuals who are currently sick and hurt. How hard could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally forgot to mark this as multiple chapters when I posted it. My bad. I'm not sure how many it will be, probably one or two more. 
> 
> Warnings for needles, use of sedatives, vomiting (nothing graphic), hallucinations, and restraints. And language, because of course, this is me writing.

   Their first order of business was checking vitals. Clint had first aid training and knew the basics as well as how to start IV’s and give injections, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that. Wong worked on an antidote for Matt and something to help Stephen.

   Clint checked Matt’s pulse and blood pressure. Both were high, but not worryingly so. He found an aural thermometer, it wasn’t the most accurate but it would do until they were conscious. Matt jerked his head when he tried to stick the thermometer in his ear.

   “What’s happening?,” Matt asked confused, his eyes fluttering open. He frantically looked around. His senses were all over the place; nothing about this place was familiar. It smelled old, but not in a bad way and he smelled herbs nearby. He tried to focus on the heartbeats; there were multiple people in the room. He felt hot and tired plus all his muscles hurt. His right side throbbed. He felt like he did when he had gotten a bad case of the flu as a kid.

   “Hey, it’s ok. It’s Clint. You’re at the Sanctum.”

   “Clint?,” Matt asked. He tried to wrap his foggy brain around what was happening. He remembered going with Clint this morning to a warehouse. Then getting stabbed in the neck by a cult member. After that it was fuzzy. He vaguely remembered Stephen and a portal.

   “You got shanked by a magic artifact. Wong’s working on an antidote. He said you’re going to be ok, you might just feel shitty for a few days,” Clint explained. “You’ve got a fever, I’m trying to see how high it is.”

   Clint found a regular digital thermometer since Matt was awake. Matt started to doze back off after Clint put the thermometer under his tongue. He kept a hand on it to make sure Matt didn’t choke on it or something. He checked the screen after it beeped and was relieved. Matt definitely had a fever but it wasn’t dangerously high. He tucked the blanket around Matt when he started shivering with chills.

   He moved over to where Stephen was still unconscious; Wong said he’d probably be out for a couple of hours. The sorcerer didn’t stir at all when he checked his blood pressure and pulse, which he was glad to find were normal. He used the aural thermometer and saw he was running a low grade fever. Wong came over holding two bowls.

   “Is that normal?,” Clint asked, showing him the readout on the thermometer.

   Wong nodded. “As long as it doesn’t get any higher. I’ve finished making the antidote for Matt.” He set one of the bowls on the table near Strange’s bed. He would have to wait a while until he was conscious. The two walked over to Matt.

   “We need to get him to drink this. One cup now, one later,” Wong explained as he filled a cup with the dark liquid. “I tried to make it as palatable as possible, but it’s still not great.”

   “Let’s do this,” Clint said, carefully laying a hand on Matt’s shoulder, he had dozed off. He gently shook him. “Matt, you need to wake up. We have something to help you out.”

   Matt slowly opened his eyes, taking a moment to get his bearings. He vaguely recalled some of the events of the day and that he was in the sanctum. But it was all hazy.  

   “Hey, sorry to wake you up, I know you’re tired. You just need to drink this and then you can go back to sleep. It’ll probably suck, but it’ll help,” Clint explained, pushing a cup towards him.

   Matt could smell the overpowering herbs and coughed. He really didn’t want to ingest this, but he trusted Clint, and Wong. If whatever it was would help him, he would take it. Getting it down would be the hard part. With his enhanced senses every repugnant thing was ten times stronger. He held a slightly shaking hand out and took the cup, relieved he could hold it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. He took a large sip and immediately started choking.

   Clint managed to grab the cup from him before he dropped it. He coughed and gagged, eventually doubling over and spitting up. It was mostly stomach acid, he hadn’t eaten for a while. He took deep breaths to steady himself. “Sorry,” he finally apologized breathlessly when he felt Clint’s hand on his shoulder. He could tell he was concerned.

   “It’s all good. Are you ok?,” Clint asked. He hadn’t expected a violent reaction like that.

   “Yeah. Just...my senses. Everything’s overpowering,” Matt tried to explain. He was still tired and disoriented.

   “Shit, I forgot. I’m sorry,” Clint said as he pulled the blanket off Matt and threw it into a laundry hamper. Wong handed him a fresh one.

   “Thanks,” Matt said. He might normally be embarrassed, but he was too exhausted and felt too terrible to really care. “I think I’m good now,” Matt finally said. He wasn’t looking forward to it, but he figured he had gotten over the initial shock. Sometimes his senses just needed a minute to adjust.

   “Are you sure?,” Clint asked, not totally convinced.

   Matt nodded. He just wanted to get it over with and get to feeling better. He could power through it.

   Clint handed him the cup again and stood close by. Matt managed to choke all of the contents down. He had been right; it had tasted and smelled terrible, but not as harsh as the first time. He shakily handed the empty cup to Clint and leaned back against the pillows exhausted.

   “The potion should start counteracting the artifact’s effects soon. Try to get some rest. You should feel a little better when you wake up,” Wong explained.

   Matt nodded. He had been pretty lucid for the past ten minutes, but he could feel the exhaustion pulling at him and the fever starting to cloud his mind again. He closed his eyes and started to drift to sleep.

   Clint made sure the blanket was tucked around Matt as he watched him drift back off to sleep. “Well, glad that’s over.”

   “That was the easy part,” Wong said.

   “That was easy?,” Clint asked incredulously.

   “Compared to what we’re up against next,” Wong said with a sigh.

   “How bad is he?,” Clint asked, glancing at Strange, who was still unconscious.

   “You have no idea,” Wong replied sitting down. He figured he might as well get some rest while he had a chance.

   “Really? He’s a doctor. Shouldn’t magical healthcare be his thing?”

   “One would think”, Wong replied, shaking his head, “last year he contracted an alien plague from one of the other dimensions. He accidentally blasted a healer through a wall. Fortunately the healer was ok.  At least this time Stephen won’t have any magic to use.”

   “Great,” Clint replied dryly.

   “It shouldn't be that bad this time. But he can be a miserable stubborn asshole when he’s sick or hurt.”

   “He’s kind of a miserable stubborn asshole when he’s not,” Clint replied, laughing.

   Wong smiled, “You’re not entirely wrong. Magical sickness is harder to deal with though. It has a lot of components. So you can’t blame him entirely for being so damn contrary. Plus he’s been through a lot.”   

   “They both have,” Clint replied.

   He knew how hard it was to be weakened and vulnerable and have to trust other people. Especially when you were sick and in pain. Everyone in this room was stubborn; that’s why they were all good at what they did. It also meant that they weren’t the most cooperative, even on a good day. So it was no surprise they were downright ornery when they were sick. Clint knew he couldn’t judge; he had a reputation among the medical staff the team dealt with. It probably had something to do with the time he tried to escape through an air vent after having been stabbed only a few hours before. He would have gotten away if it weren’t for the trail of blood he had left.

   A little while later Clint remembered what Matt had said about his ribs on his right side. He carefully lifted up his shirt and felt his rib cage, with Matt only stirring slightly in discomfort, and was relieved to find that the ribs didn’t feel broken.

   “I think they’re just bruised badly,” Clint said to Wong. Matt’s side was already starting to turn dark purple.

   The other man nodded, setting down the cloth he had been using to wipe down Matt’s neck. “There are some ice packs in the freezer over there. I cleaned off the stab wound for now, we can disinfect it better later. I don’t want to risk waking him up”

   Clint agreed; Matt needed to rest and he didn’t want to agitate him right now. He wrapped an ice pack in a towel and carefully placed it on Matt’s side. He and Wong sat in silence for a while. Matt occasionally mumbled in his sleep restlessly, but otherwise seemed to be sleeping ok. After a while Strange began to stir.

   He muttered some in his sleep and then groaned as he finally began to come to consciousness. He slowly opened his eyes, feeling like he had been thrown off a cliff. All of his muscles ached, he had a headache, felt nauseous, and felt shaky. His hands hurt, more than usual, but he was glad it was a throbbing ache and not sharp, shooting pains. It was bad that he could be happy about having a certain type of pain.

   “Welcome back.” He looked to see Clint sitting in the chair near the bed.

   Right, the warehouse. He glanced around and sighed when he saw they were in the healing chambers. He hated this room and felt it was unnecessary for him to be in here. He had just overdone it with his magic and only needed some rest, which he could do in his room.

   He sat up and was about to tell Clint and Wong this when he was hit by a wave of vertigo. He gripped the side of the bed, waiting for the room to stop spinning. He swallowed thickly against the nausea. He took a shaky breath and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

   “Strange, chill out,” he vaguely heard Clint say.

   He tried to get onto his feet, Clint holding onto his shoulder. He felt a sense of dread as the dizziness finally got to him. He coughed and doubled over, throwing up on the floor. He groaned quietly and closed his eyes against the dizziness and embarrassment.

   “Hey, it’s ok. Why don’t you sit back?,” Clint said gently. He carefully guided Strange back. He had his eyes closed and was pale and shaking. His face was slightly flushed, either from the slight fever or being embarrassed or both. Clint felt bad, they had all been there; it sucked when you were sick and upset and just wanted to be left alone and not have an audience. He gently patted him on the shoulder.

   “Sorry. I’m fine,” Stephen finally said quietly, opening his eyes.

   “It’s ok. Happens to all of us. At one of the SHIELD Christmas parties I threw up off a balcony onto my superior officer,” Clint said with a shrug. This didn’t seem to reassure Strange, who still looked uncomfortable. He was probably feeling worse than he was letting on.

   He and Wong were cleaning up the floor when Matt cried out.

   Clint rushed over. Matt was flushed and sweating and seemed to be hallucinating. He lashed out at Clint when he came near. He started yelling something about his father.

   “Wong, any idea what’s going on?,” Clint asked. He had felt Matt’s forehead (and almost gotten punched in the face) and it didn’t feel that much worse.

   “Sometimes people have reactions to the antidotes. Hallucinations, nightmares, that sort of thing,” Wong explained coming over.

   “What do we do?,” Clint asked, grabbing Matt’s wrist. He was trying to wrestle him back into bed.

   “Sedate him,” Stephen said from across the room, trying to focus.

   Clint looked at Wong, who nodded.

   “Midazolam, it’s in the cabinet. 1.5 mg.,” Stephen explained with effort.  

   Wong went over to the cabinet, pulled out a vile, and filled a syringe.

   Matt was growing more frantic. “Something’s wrong. I can’t see,” Matt said in a panic, trying to jump up.

   “Matt, it’s me Clint. You’re ok. We’re going to calm you down,” Clint explained. He had managed to get Matt back down on the bed.

   Wong handed him the syringe and took over trying to hold Matt down. Clint was grateful that his first aid training had included giving injections.

   “No, stop!,” Matt yelled panicked. He must have sensed Clint coming towards him with a syringe. “No drugs. Dulls my senses.”

   “I’m sorry man, but you’ve been hallucinating. We don’t want you to hurt yourself,” Clint managed to dodge a kick as he pulled Matt’s sweatpants down far enough to get at his thigh. Matt hissed as he wiped the area down with cold alcohol and quickly plunged the needle in before he had a chance to retaliate.

   Matt groaned at the stabbing pain in his leg. He knew what was happening but everything was hazy. He had thought he was fighting the Hand, and then he had seen his father die, and now he was in the Sanctum. Clint had drugged him. He knew he was helping, but he hated drugs and hated how they slowed him down and made everything dull.

   “Ok, we’re done,” he heard Clint say as he pulled his sweatpants back up. He felt the other hands holding him down let up. He sighed as he rubbed the aching muscle on his leg.

   “I know, I’m sorry,” Clint said, noticing his discomfort. Matt looked like a sad puppy. A tired, sad puppy. The medicine was kicking in. Matt’s eyes were slowly closing.

   Clint guided him back to lay down and was glad when he didn’t fight. Matt mumbled for a minute, Clint with a comforting hand on his shoulder, then finally drifted off to sleep.

   Clint sat back and sighed in relief. “Well, that’s done.”

   Wong nodded, putting away the supplies. He turned to look at Stephen who had a pained expression and his head in one of his shaking hands. “Alright, your turn.”

   Stephen looked up, slightly panicked. “What? I’m fine.”

   Wong gave him a fierce look. “No, you’re not fine. And you’re going to cooperate. We’re trying to deal with Murdock, we don’t need your stubbornness on top of it all.”

   Stephen rolled his eyes, regretting it when there was a flash of pain in his head. He knew Wong and Barton could easily overpower him right now. He knew he shouldn’t be so petulant and should let them help him. But dammit he felt terrible and he hated feeling helpless. He had promised himself after the accident he would never let himself feel as weak and helpless as he did those days in the hospital ever again.

   Clint stepped in sensing the tension. “Listen I think you might have a concussion. I’m not a doctor, but I’ve had a lot of concussions.” He had noticed that the man’s eyes weren’t tracking quite right; that plus the headache, dizziness, and nausea indicated a concussion. But it was hard to tell whether those symptoms were just from the exhaustion.

   Stephen sighed. He was a neurosurgeon. He knew the symptoms and knew he had a mild concussion. He just didn’t want to admit it.

   Clint pulled out a penlight. “Can I take a look?,” he asked, already shining the light in his eye to check his pupils.  

   “Fine.” Stephen went along with Clint as he did the standard checks for a concussion, which he was very familiar with.

   “I think you have a minor concussion,” Clint finally said. He was relieved it wasn’t as bad as he initially thought it might be. He had caught Stephen when he passed out, but he had still hit his head. There was already bruising on his left temple.

   “Yes, I’m aware,” Stephen replied slightly irritably. He just wanted to be left alone to rest. Wong was glaring at him so he let Clint check his vitals without too much bitching. Clint put the thermometer in his mouth.

   “Now that you’re shut up for a minute,” Wong began as Stephen glared at him, “I made a healing potion. You’re magic is severely drained, if you want to recover in the next few days you need to take it.”

   He knew Stephen hated taking anything that would make him drowsy or alter his consciousness. Last time he had to take a healing potion he had had vivid nightmares and had woken up sick to his stomach. Wong had had to coerce him into taking it last time, so he knew this time would be even more of a struggle given his past reaction.  

   The thermometer beeped and Clint checked the reading as Stephen huffed. “No. I’ll rest and let my body heal on its own.” He knew it would take longer, but he would be fine without the potion.

   “I made sure to put something it in to help with the nausea this time. And the pain,” Wong attempted. He glanced at the reading on the thermometer Clint was showing him. “And I’ll add something for the fever. It’s gotten higher.”

   That explained why Stephen was more irritable than usual, last time he hadn’t been nearly this sick.

   Stephen ran a shaking hand through his hair in frustration. “I don’t want any medication.”

   “Why?,” Clint asked. He didn’t know why Strange, being a doctor, was being this belligerent.

   “Because I like being in control of my mental faculties. I don’t like the effects.”

   “You were pretty quick to suggest we sedate Murdock,” Clint pointed out.

   “He was hallucinating. He was going to hurt himself. I’m fine.” He swung his legs over the side of the bed, ready to walk out. Except as soon as he went to stand up his knees buckled. The Cloak, which had been hovering nearby watching over him, managed to catch him before he hit the floor.

   “Yeah you’re totally fine,” Clint said rolling his eyes. The Cloak pushed Stephen back into the bed. It was pretty bad when even a sentient piece of fabric was frustrated with your antics.

   Wong came over with the potion. Stephen looked like he was considering bolting.

   “Look, Stephen. We care about you and are trying to help you,” Wong explained patiently. He knew that after his accident Stephen had gotten weird, and almost phobic, about medical treatment sometimes. It brought back a lot of bad memories. He also knew that this frustrated him since he was a doctor.

   Stephen shook his head. “I appreciate it. But I just want to be left alone. I am more than capable of making my own medical decisions.”

   He knew he was being irrational, probably a combination of the fever, exhaustion, and concussion. But at this point he really didn’t care. He didn’t have the strength to keep up appearances of being calm and collected and he wasn’t going to break down in front of his friends and teammates. It would be better if he was left alone to deal with things himself.  

   “Come on Strange. Work with us,” Clint asked. He really didn’t want to fight him. But he would do it if necessary. The man had no sense of self preservation when it came to his own health.

   “I don’t need your help.”

   Wong sighed, losing patience. Clearly trying to reason with him in this state wasn’t going to work. It was time for a different approach. “This is happening. We can do it the easy way or the hard way. It’s your choice.” He hoped Strange would pick the easy way, but he doubted it.

   “Are you seriously resorting to threats?,” Stephen said with frustration. He was about to try to get up yet again when the Cloak suddenly ambushed him. It wrapped around him, pinning his arms. “What the hell are you doing?,” he yelled with surprise.

   “Even your flying blanket thinks you’re being an idiot,” Clint said walking over. Now was as good a time as any.

   “Stop,” Stephen said, trying to break free. The Cloak patted his shoulder with its collar in apology.  

   “This will be a lot easier if you willingly take it,” Wong said approaching with the potion. He wanted to try to reason with him one more time before he and Clint had to force feed him the mixture.

   Stephen finally stopped struggling and groaned in frustration. He wasn’t getting out of this. At this point he could either take the potion willingly or have it forcibly choked down. He knew it would help, he just didn’t want to deal with side effects. Now he didn’t really have a choice. “Ok, ok.” He was frustrated to realize he was close to tears. He was definitely exhausted and not thinking straight or in control of his emotions.

   “Stephen, you need to trust me. I’m sorry you had a bad reaction last time, but I’ll do everything to make sure it’s ok this time,” Wong said kindly.

   Stephen nodded. “I know.” He tried to move and realized the Cloak wasn’t loosening its grip. Wong noticed his confusion.

   “I don’t think the Cloak trusts you not to run. It probably won’t let go until you take it,” he explained.

   “I don’t really blame it,” Clint muttered. Strange shot him a look.

   “Let’s just get this over with,” Wong said, holding the cup up.

   Stephen managed to choke down the potion, stopping once to gag and try not to throw up again. He took a deep breath against the nausea. It wasn’t as bad as before, but definitely wasn’t pleasant. The Cloak finally unwrapped from around him, laying him back against the pillows, and settled over him like a blanket.

   “Try to get some rest,” Wong said after a little while, laying a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Sorry we had to be forceful about about it.”

   “Sorry for being a pain in the ass,” Stephen replied, starting to feel drowsy. The pain and nausea had lessened at least.

   “Well, we’re used to that,” Wong said smirking. He was glad Stephen looked more relaxed and in less pain.

   Stephen snorted. He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing and slowly drifted off to sleep.

   “Well, you weren’t kidding,” Clint said, after Strange had been asleep for a while.

   “About what?”

   “About him being difficult,” Clint replied. “Although I feel like difficult is an understatement really.”

   “I did try to warn you,” Wong said, standing up. “And speaking of difficult, we need to be ready for Matt to wake up.”

   “Right.” Clint sighed. “Any idea if he’ll be calmer when he wakes up?”

   “I’m a sorcerer, not a psychic.”

   Clint rolled his eyes. “Ok, any ideas on what to do if he decides to get violent? Do we knock him out again?” Clint wasn’t a medical expert, but he felt like pumping Murdock full of drugs right now wasn’t a good idea. But at the same time he had seen Daredevil fight and did not want to be on the receiving end if Matt lashed out.

   “We have some restraints. They’re usually a last resort, but it might be our best option. We can remove them once Matt’s calmed down,” Wong explained as he opened up a drawer and rummaged around. He eventually found several padded straps.

   “Ok,” Clint finally agreed, taking two of the straps from Wong. He knew Matt wasn’t going to be happy, but it would keep them all safe and it was only temporary.

   The two of them quickly secured Matt’s wrists and ankles, making sure the restraints weren’t too tight. They adjusted the tension to allow for some movement, but not enough to throw a punch or kick.

   The two men took turns taking breaks to rest and get something to eat. They couldn’t take care of their friends if they didn’t take care of themselves. Stephen was still sleeping peacefully, but Matt was starting to wake up. Clint pulled the chair over beside his bed, ready to calm him down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not a medical expert so sorry for any inaccuracies. I googled dosages for medications so I could be completely off. 
> 
> As I mentioned in the previous chapter this is my take on cramming a bunch of Whumptober prompts into one story (Insomnia, drugged, “No, stop,” fever, bruises, exhaustion, concussion, bedridden, restraints, broken ribs, caregiver, showdown).


	3. The Struggle Is Real

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wong and Clint continue to try to help their stubborn friends. They have the challenge of trying to get them to rest and relax and not make themselves worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I finally have had some time to write! It's been crazy with work (we're in the middle of our Christmas season) plus holidays and family. 
> 
> Warnings in this chapter for nightmares, needles, and sedatives. And as I've already stated, I'm in no way a medical expert. So please forgive any inaccuracies.

   Matt inhaled sharply and opened his eyes. He was confused. His entire body hurt, his head felt cloudy and he had no idea where he was. He went to sit up and found that his arms and legs were restrained. He felt a moment of panic and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

   He inhaled deeply, trying to recognize the smells. They were familiar to a degree, but he couldn’t place where he was. There were heartbeats; one was close by and sounded familiar. Matt shook his head, trying to shake away the remaining drowsiness and focus. The person near him was talking; he tilted his head. Clint.

   “Matt, listen to me. Just focus on my voice. It’ll take a minute for your head to clear. You’re in the Sanctum, you’re safe.”

   Matt nodded. It all started coming back to him. The warehouse. The fever. A barrier and a portal. Some sort of healing potion. He remembered panicking.

   “You remember what happened?,” Clint asked. He could tell Matt was becoming more lucid. He knew firsthand that it took a few minutes to come completely out of it after being sedated.

   “Yeah, mostly,” Matt said, clearing his throat. He went to reach for the water he remembered being nearby and felt his arm catch. “Am I tied down?”

   “Oh shit. Yeah,” Clint said, moving to undo the restraints. “We weren’t sure how you’d be waking up. Didn’t want to risk getting our asses kicked. We had to give you a sedative earlier.”

   “Right.” He remembered the sheer panic, fighting against someone, then a sharp pain and darkness. That explained why his right thigh was sore.

   Clint handed him the water and he gratefully took a few sips, careful not to drink too much too fast.

   “The good news is I think you’re fever’s gone down. Whatever Wong did must be working,” Clint pointed out. Matt looked less flushed and a little more focused.

   “I think you’re right. I still feel terrible though,” Matt said with a small smile. He was glad his head finally felt a little more clear, even if he did feel like he got thrown down several flights of stairs.

   “Yeah, Wong said it’ll probably take a few days to recover.”

   Matt sighed. He really didn’t want to spend the week laying in bed. The thing he hated most about being sick was feeling trapped and not able to go anywhere or do anything.

   “I know that look,” Clint stated, “it’s the ‘I’m going to bust out of medical against professional advice and exert myself therefore prolonging my recovery’ look.”

   “That was really specific,” Matt said laughing lightly.

   “Yeah, well. Let’s just say I have a lot of experience dodging and breaking out of medical,” Clint said shrugging.

   “So I’ve heard.”

   He and Clint looked up as footsteps approached.

   “Glad to see you’re up. How are you doing?,” Wong asked, taking in Matt’s appearance. He looked a little better than earlier, although that wasn’t saying much.

   “A little better,” Matt said honestly.

   “We need to clean that cut on your head and the wound on your neck,” Wong explained, “Clint can check and see if your fever’s gone down while I get a few things together.” Wong walked over the cabinets and started gathering things as Clint grabbed the thermometer from nearby.

   Clint held the thermometer under Matt’s tongue then checked the readout when it beeped a minute later. “You just have a low grade fever, but it’s gone down a lot.”

   Matt nodded. The two sat for a minute while Wong finished gathering things over at the cabinets. Then a thought struck him.

   “How’s Strange?” He had almost forgotten. One of the last things he remembered at the warehouse was the sorcerer collapsing. He could sense his heartbeat nearby and could tell he was sleeping.

   “A pain in the ass,” Clint said snorting. Matt raised an eyebrow.

   “He’s ok. Wong said he exhausted himself by using too much magic. We finally got him to take whatever it is Wong put together. He’s sleeping right now.” Matt nodded.

   “Let’s get this over with,” Wong said, bringing over gauze, disinfectant, antibiotic cream, and some bandages. He carefully cleaned the cut on Matt’s head, glad to see it wasn’t too deep. It definitely didn’t need stitches. Matt flinched, but otherwise showed no signs of pain. Although Wong knew he was the type of person who would suffer in silence rather than admit pain.

   “Are you still doing ok?,” Wong asked as he applied a thin layer of antibiotic ointment and carefully applied a small bandage.

   “Yeah,” Matt replied. He’d definitely had worse.

   “Ok, this wound is a little deeper. I need to make sure it’s cleaned out well since we don’t know how dirty the artifact was,” Wong warned. Matt nodded.

   Wong looked at the punctures between Matt’s neck and shoulder, glad to see it wasn’t inflamed. He carefully started flushing the three small stab wounds with disinfectant.

   Matt inhaled sharply. He had underestimated how sensitive an area the spot where the stab wound was in was.

   “Tell me if you need something for the pain,” Wong said, trying to move quickly. He knew Matt wouldn’t take anything, but he still figured he’d offer.

   “No, I’ll be fine,” Matt replied. He let out a slightly shaky breath.

   “I’m almost done.”

   “You couldn’t have done this while I was unconscious?,” Matt asked, taking a deep breath. He had dealt with much worse pain, but he was tired and sick and would rather not have more pain on top of it if he could help it.

   “And risk startling you? I’ve seen you fight,” Wong replied, scoffing.

   Matt sighed in relief when he stopped with the disinfectant and carefully applied more antibiotic cream. “That’s fair.” He honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he punched someone in the face if they started poking around the wound in his neck while he was asleep.

   “That’s done,” Wong said, setting the supplies aside. “You’ll need one more dose of the healing potion later, but it’ll be smaller. Until then just try to rest.”

   Matt nodded. He was still tired. He relaxed back against the pillows.

   Clint was over by Strange’s bed. He had noticed that Stephen had begun to toss and turn in his sleep slightly, most likely having a nightmare. That was something he was all too familiar with; he suspected it was something all of them in the room were familiar with.

   His suspicions were confirmed when Stephen inhaled sharply and sat up in a panic, his heart racing.

   “Stephen, it’s ok. You were just having a nightmare,” Clint said gently. He carefully laid a hand on the man’s shoulder. “Take deep breaths.”

   Stephen nodded and took a shaky breath. After a little while his breathing finally evened out. “Thanks, I’m good,” he finally stated, leaning back heavily.

   Clint nodded. “Do you want to talk?” He figured Strange wouldn’t, but he wanted him to know he was there if he needed him.

   Stephen shook his head. “No, it was just...the usual. The accident, Dormammu. They’re not usually that bad,” he stated, running a hand through his hair in frustration. It had been a while since he had had a nightmare that vivid.

   “Well, you’re tired and you’re sick. Plus it might have been a side effect of the potion.”

   “Probably,” Stephen replied, still trying to shake the images from his head.

   “While you’re up let me see if the fever’s gone down,” Clint said, grabbing the other thermometer. He figured Strange was still shaken when he let him check his temperature without any complaints or bickering. “It’s going down,” Clint stated, looking at the readout.

   “That’s good,” Stephen replied with a sigh.

   “Why don’t you get some more rest,” Clint said gently. The man looked absolutely exhausted still.

   “I might stay up for a while, do some reading,” Stephen replied, not in a hurry to go back to sleep. Fortunately there was a bookshelf in the healing chamber for entertainment.

   “Ok,” Clint replied evenly. He’d have to keep an eye out and make sure Stephen actually got some sleep. He knew he’d be nervous after the nightmare. He hoped the exhaustion would catch up with him and he’d get some rest.

   Stephen carefully stood up, glad the room wasn’t spinning anymore. He carefully walked over to the shelf and selected a couple of books. The cloak was hovering nearby, ready to catch him. He made it back to the bed, exhausted by the short walk. He sighed in frustration and opened the book, willing his eyes to focus. It’s not that he didn’t want to sleep, he really did. He couldn’t remember feeling this exhausted in a long time. But he wasn’t sure he could fall asleep now even if he wanted. It was like this after particularly bad nightmares.

   “I’m gonna go grab some coffee, “ Clint said. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

   Stephen nodded. “I’m good. I’ll keep an eye on Murdock.”

   Clint wasn’t sure Stephen could keep an eye on himself right now, much less Matt. But he knew the cloak would get him if anything happened.

   Clint found Wong in the kitchen.

   “Hey, needed some caffeine,” Clint said, helping himself to a pot of coffee.

   Wong stared as Clint drank directly from the pot. “I see that.”

   “I also wanted to let you know Stephen had a nightmare. He’s up right now, but I think he’s going to have trouble getting back to sleep,” Clint stated. He figured this probably wasn’t the first time.

   “I was worried about this,” Wong said sighing. He knew nightmares could be a side effect of the potion, but he knew the benefits would outweigh the side effects. Still, they had to find a way to get Stephen to rest or his condition could deteriorate. “He’s had trouble with insomnia and nightmares in the past.”

   “Is there anything that helps?,” Clint asked hopefully.

Wong shook his head. “I’ve snuck a sleeping powder in his tea before when it’s gotten really bad. He was pretty pissed about that. Usually I just wait until he collapses from exhaustion.”

   “Yeah, that won’t work this time.”

   “No. We’ll need to figure something out,” Wong replied.

   “Well, we can wait a bit. See if he falls asleep on his own. After that we can try to get him to take something.” Maybe he would be so exhausted he wouldn’t put up too much of a fight.

   Wong nodded. “That seems like our best option.” They’d watch and wait.

   The two returned to the healing chamber. Wong and Stephen made small talk for a while, with Stephen struggling to focus and stay awake. Clint picked up a book on magical weaponry and went to sit near Matt. He was sleeping peacefully at least.

   About an hour passed before Wong finally spoke up. “Stephen, you know you need to rest.”

   “I know. I just, right now, I don’t think I can,” he replied sighing. He knew he needed sleep. He wanted to sleep.

   “Why don’t you lie down, we can try to do some meditation and breathing,” Wong said. Hopefully if he could get Stephen to relax he’d have a better chance of getting back to sleep.

   Stephen considered arguing for a moment then sighed and laid down. It was worth a try.

   Wong started a guided meditation. “Alright, take a deep breath. Hold it in for a moment, and let it out. Focus on your breathing. Let all of the tension drain out.”

   Wong narrated for about ten minutes, and noticed Stephen relaxing finally. Unfortunately, he still couldn’t sleep. After about five more minutes Stephen opened his eyes. “It’s not working,” he stated in obvious frustration.

   “I know,” Wong replied sadly. He had hoped it would work, but hadn’t counted on it. “You need to let us give you something to help you sleep.” He knew this was going to be a struggle. He just hoped they wouldn’t have to restrain him. Again.

   Stephen shook his head. “No. I’ll wait. I have to fall asleep eventually.”

   Clint came over. “You know if you stay awake too long you’re going to feel worse,” he explained. He could tell Strange was slightly flushed and hoped the fever wasn’t going back up.

   “I know. I just, I hate taking sedatives,” Stephen said sadly. He knew he would need to take something. He just hated any medication that knocked him out ever since the accident. He had spent too many days in a drug fueled haze.

   “Nothing heavy, just something to help you fall asleep. I can give you a sleeping powder. That or we can do a very low dose of medication, it’s your choice,” Wong explained.

   “I don’t care,” Stephen replied, blinking in frustration against tears. He knew his emotions weren’t under control because he was sick. It made sense considering how terrible he felt. It was still embarrassing.

   “Ok, just give us a minute. It’s going to be ok,” Wong said gently, rubbing Stephen’s shoulder.

   “I know. I’m just…” Stephen waved a hand.

   “You’re not feeling well. We all get like that.” Wong understood. The normally stoic man had been a mess when he had caught a really bad case of the flu that had turned into pneumonia several years ago. He knew what it was like to feel absolutely terrible and not be in control.  

   He and Clint went over to the cabinets. The cloak settled around Stephen’s shoulders, sensing his distress. It started stroking his hair. Stephen pushed the cloak away for a moment, but it continued. Finally he leaned into the touch, relaxing slightly.

   “So. What do think’s the best option?,” Clint asked Wong.

   “I’m worried about the sleeping powder having side effects. It might be better to give him a really low dose of a sedative. Not enough to knock him out, just to relax him,” Wong replied, grabbing the vial and a small syringe. Wong texted Christine for the dosage after assuring her Stephen was ok. She promised to stop by and visit. Wong filled the syringe and handed it to Clint. The two returned to where Stephen sat with the cloak.

   “Ok, we’re going to give you a very low dose of Midazolam. It has the least amount of side effects,” Wong explained.

   Stephen eyed the syringe. “Don’t we have any oral?” He wasn’t afraid of needles, but he really wasn’t in the mood at the moment for a shot.

   “No. This will work quicker and won’t irritate your stomach,” Wong explained patiently. He knew that Stephen knew this, he was a doctor, but he didn’t blame him for not wanting a shot right now. He hated to do it to him, but it was the best option.

   “Ok,” Stephen finally said. He began the process of untangling the cloak.

   “I need your leg,” Clint stated. “I don’t give injections a lot, it’s easier with a bigger muscle.”

   Stephen sighed.

   “It’s that or the hip. You’re choice. I figured you’d prefer leg, but I can always…,” Clint began.

   “Leg’s fine,” Stephen interrupted. He slowly pulled his pants down to his knees, blushing slightly. He was wearing boxers, but it was still slightly embarrassing.

   “Alright, I’ll do this quick,” Clint stated. He quickly wiped down the outer thigh muscle. “Deep breath. 1, 2, 3.” He carefully stuck the needle into the muscle and pushed down the plunger. Stephen made a small noise of discomfort. “All done,” Clint said after a moment, putting a small bandaid on the spot.

   Stephen pulled his pants back up as the cloak settled over him again, rubbing his leg. He smiled at the small gesture. He felt his eyes slowly drifting closed as the medication began to take effect.

   “How are you doing?,” Wong asked, laying a hand on his arm in comfort. He usually wasn’t very touchy feely, and neither was Stephen, but he hated seeing his friend like this.

   “I’m ok, I think it’s working,” Stephen said drowsily.

   “Good, just relax. We’ll be right here,” Wong replied.

   Stephen fought against it for a minute then felt his eyes become heavier and soon found himself finally drifting off to sleep.

   Clint and Wong sat down heavily. It had been an exhausting day. Fortunately, it looked like Matt and Stephen were through the worst of it. They just needed to give them both one more dose of the potions and needed to make sure that they actually rested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've made some progress on the next chapter so hopefully I'll have that up soon. I think there will probably be two more chapters, but I can never be sure lol sometimes things get out of control.


	4. Getting There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Stephen finally make some progress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost done! Thanks to getting snowed in I finally had some time to finish this. There's going to be one short epilogue after this.

   It was several hours later when Matt began to stir. He was a lot more lucid, finally having shaken off most of the fever. He still felt terrible though; his muscles ached, and the stab wound and cut on his head throbbed. Not to mention the hurt ribs. He shifted and groaned slightly. 

   “How are you doing?,” Clint asked, coming over. 

   “Not great. But definitely better than before,” Matt stated honestly. 

   “You look a little better. Still terrible, but less like you’re about to keel over,” Clint stated.

   “Gee, thanks,” Matt replied, laughing. He was really glad that his head was clearer and he was able to focus his senses again. It had been miserable feeling to muddled and confused. 

   Clint checked Matt’s vitals, glad to see the fever was almost completely gone. Wong really knew his stuff. 

   “At least Stephen’s still sleeping,” Matt said, tilting his head towards the sleeping man.

   “He is now. He woke up after a nightmare and we had to finally give him something to get him back to sleep.”

   “How did that go?,” Matt asked, remembering what Clint had said about Stephen being a difficult patient. 

   “Surprisingly ok. I think he was too exhausted to put up much of a fight,” Clint replied. 

   “Hopefully he’ll feel better when he wakes up,” Matt said. He was glad to finally be feeling less terrible and he only hoped his friend would find some relief too. 

   “Yeah, I hate seeing him like this. You too. I hate seeing anyone hurt or sick and not be able to do anything about it,” Clint sighed. 

   “But you did do something about it. You and Wong have done everything you could for us. If it wasn’t for you two we’d be a lot worse off,” Matt stated. 

   “You’d do the same for me,” Clint replied with a shrug. 

   “Yeah, it’s just good knowing someone has your back.” Matt had been fighting on his own for so long he had forgotten what it was like to have a team to fall back on. 

   The two looked up as Wong entered the room. 

   “Are you feeling any better?,” Wong asked, taking in Matt’s appearance. He definitely looked better than earlier. 

   “I’m getting there. Thanks to you and Clint,” Matt replied. 

   “You’re welcome. I’m always glad to assist a friend when needed,” Wong replied.

   “Matt’s fever is almost completely gone. Strange has been sleeping soundly,” Clint informed the man. Wong had reluctantly gone to take care of a couple of things after Clint promised to keep an eye on everything and call him if anything happened.  

   “My teams of sorcerers were able to track down the cult members and apprehend them. They identified the relic, and it is the same one as he thought,” Wong explained. 

   “That’s great,” Clint replied. He felt better knowing that there wasn’t a crazy cult out there running around. And that they knew for sure what relic was used on Matt. 

   “Knowing the specific relic will allow me to make the last dose of potion more accurate,” Wong stated. 

   Matt sighed. 

   “The first one worked pretty good,” Clint replied. It had pretty much cured Matt’s fever. 

   Wong nodded. “It was a more general formulation. This one will specifically focus on the remaining magic from the relic, making it more potent. It will also have less side effects. You should tolerate it better,” Wong said to Matt, who looked dejected at having to take another potion after his experience with the last. 

   “If it helps me finally get better I’ll do it,” Matt replied. He knew he didn’t really have a choice. If wanted to get over this he’d have to suck it up and take the potion.  

   “I’ll go get it ready,” Wong replied. He went over to the counter and returned a little while later with a cup, fortunately smaller than the first. 

   Matt reluctantly took the cup from him. Thankfully, he could already tell the herbs were less harsh than the first. He figured Wong had had to make the first stronger since it  wasn’t specific. He took a deep breath and quickly downed the contents of the cup. He coughed and attempted not to gag. Fortunately he was able to keep it down this time. He set the cup on the nearby table. 

   “At least you didn’t hurl this time,” Clint stated unhelpfully. 

   “It wasn’t as bad as last time,’ Matt replied. Still not good, but not as bad. 

   “I’m glad. Unfortunately I can’t way the same for Stephen. I have no way of altering the formula for his since it is just for magical exhaustion. So he’ll have to deal with it,” Wong said, dreading the upcoming conflict. Stephen would probably feel just better enough to put up a fight. He sighed. 

   “I’ll help if I can,” Matt replied. 

   “We’ll see. For now you should get some more rest,” Wong stated. 

   Matt nodded. He wasn’t sleepy, but he was pretty exhausted. The last thing he wanted to do was lie around after being bedridden the past day, but he knew he shouldn’t push it. So he and Clint sat and talked, swapping stories about different villains they had fought and what dumpsters they had been thrown in around the city. 

   Eventually Matt turned to look at Stephen. “He’s waking up,” he informed Clint. He had sensed the change in heart rate. He could also tell his fever had finally gone down. 

   Stephen blearily opened his eyes, confused for a minute about where he was. Surprisingly the confusion didn’t worry him. After a moment his eyes finally focused on Clint.

   “What time is it?,” he asked, his voice sounding slightly slurred. He remembered waking up from a nightmare and Clint giving him a shot of sedative. That was why his leg was so sore. But pretty much all of him was sore at this point. 

   “It’s six pm,” Clint replied. “How are you feeling?” Strange looked groggy, but more rested than earlier. 

   Stephen rolled his eyes at the question. “How do you think I’m feeling?”

   “Probably pretty shitty. What I need to know is do you feel more or less shitty than before?,” Clint replied amused. Stephen obviously wasn’t a morning person if he was this grouchy when he woke up. Not that Clint could blame him after the day he’d had. 

   “Less shitty,” Stephen replied sighing. His head was finally starting to clear. This was why he hated sedatives. He knew it had been necessary, but at least it had been a small dose. 

   “Oh good, you’re up,” Wong said coming in the room. He had been checking back in with the sorcerers. “You’ll be glad to know they apprehended the cult members and they are being held in a mystic prison near Kamar Taj while we figure out what actions to take.”

   Stephen nodded. He had figured that Wong’s teams of sorcerers would track them down. It did make him feel like an idiot for being trapped by them though. 

   “I know what look,” Wong said, “it was you versus them. You were outnumbered, not to mention out of energy. It took an entire team of sorcerers at full strength to take them out.”

   “I know,” Stephen replied with a sigh. He knew he needed to quit being so hard on himself. 

   “I never did get a chance to thank you, for helping me and Matt. Things got kind of crazy,” Clint stated. 

   “Of course. You’d do the same for me. Well, you pretty much have,” Stephen said. Clint and Wong, had definitely gone above and beyond. They could have just dumped him and Matt in medical, but instead they took it upon themselves to take care of them. And he hadn’t exactly made it easy. 

   “No problem,” Clint replied with a shrug. 

   Wong nodded. “We’re always here for you. Both of you.” 

   Stephen looked to Matt. He had noticed that the man was up and alert and looking a lot better than he had earlier. “I’m glad to see you’re doing better.”

   “I’m getting there,” Matt replied, “thanks to you, Wong, and Clint.”

   Stephen nodded. He definitely wasn’t completely better, but he had come a long way thanks to his friends. If he had been left on his own he would probably be in a lot worse shape.  

   Matt and Stephen talked while Wong attended a short meeting at Kamar Taj and Clint went off to take a break. They were both getting restless just sitting around and distracted themselves by swapping stories of their college days and comparing books they had read. 

   Eventually Clint came back and grabbed the medical kit. “Alright, I need to look you over real quick,” he said to Stephen.

   “I can already tell you the fever’s down and the symptoms of the concussion are mostly gone,” Stephen replied. 

   “I just need to check your vitals one more time and then I’ll leave you alone,” Clint replied. 

   Stephen finally agreed and Clint checked his eyes for signs of concussion and listened to his heart rate, blood pressure, and pulse. He could tell Stephen was restless. Clint stuck the thermometer in his mouth. 

   “You know, the thing they say about doctors making bad patients? Definitely true,” Clint stated. Stephen glared at him. 

   Clint checked the readout on the thermometer and was glad to see the fever was almost gone.  

   “I told you,” Stephen stated. “We’re both doing better. We should be good to go.”

   Matt nodded. While he wasn’t completely better, he was looking forward to going back to his apartment. He had been able to contact Foggy and Karen and let them know he was ok at least. 

   “A few hours ago you were unconscious,” Clint pointed out. 

   “And now I’m not.”

   Clint sighed. “Look, I know you want out of here. I totally get it. But you can’t push it. If you start doing things too soon you’ll relapse.” He knew this from lots of personal experience. 

   “I know. I’m not saying I’m going out to run a marathon, I just want to go to the library and catch up on things,” Stephen replied.

   “Are you already trying to escape? Why am I not surprised,” Wong said, entering the room. 

   “I don’t want to leave the Sanctum, just this specific room,” Stephen replied, rolling his eyes. 

   “Not yet. You still have another dose of the potion to take. And you both need to rest.”

   “I’m feeling better, I don’t need a second dose.” Sure, he wasn’t one hundred percent better, but he definitely wasn’t as bad off as before. 

   “You do. You’re feeling better now, but if you don’t follow up with the next dose you’ll lose those effects. You know this,” Wong explained somewhat impatiently. He was glad Stephen was feeling well enough to argue, but he needed to make sure his stubbornness and impatience didn’t affect his health. 

   Stephen sighed. He did know this. And he knew he shouldn’t be arguing with the people trying to help him, but old habits could be hard to break; he had been combative with everyone after the accident. He was just still not feeling great and wanted to be over all this. 

   Wong began getting the potion ready and Matt joined him, while Clint kept an eye on Stephen, since he looked like he was considering bolting. Not that he’d make it too far in the shape he was in. The cloak was hovering nearby and Stephen was glaring at it; it looked like the two were staring each other down. Clint snorted, trying not to laugh. 

   “What?,” Stephen asked, not amused. He was still keeping an eye on the cloak.

   “Nothing,” Clint said, still trying not to laugh. “I’d be mad too if I got my ass kicked by a flying blanket.”

   “I can definitely make that experience happen for you,” Stephen replied, his fingers twitching slightly. 

   Clint knew his ass would probably have been dropped through a portal if Strange had been able to perform magic at the moment.  “We both know if you try to use magic right now it’ll knock you out. And then you’ll be stuck in here longer,” Clint replied with a shrug. 

   “True, but that would mean you would be stuck in here longer too,” Stephen replied. 

   Clint saw the cloak sneaking towards Strange. It nodded at him as if to tell him to keep talking. Clint figured it was probably dumb to taunt a grouchy sorcerer who could blast him into another dimension with the flick of a hand. But he had never been known for making good life choices. He decided to keep him distracted. 

   “Being stuck in here longer would probably be worse than any spell you could come up with,” Clint replied with a smirk. 

   “You’re not the one that’s been sick for days and forced to choke down godawful potions. Not to mention being drugged.”

   “How’s your leg by the way?,” Clint asked. 

   “Still hurts. I don’t know where the hell you learned to give injections, but you need some more lessons.”

   The cloak was inching closer; Clint almost lost his composure when the  _ Jaws _ theme song started playing in his head. “You’re lucky. I could have stuck you in the ass.”

   “Don’t forget I function as the team doctor sometimes. And you get hurt a lot,” Stephen replied threateningly. 

   “You’re one to talk. Besides, I’m an expert in dodging medical treatment. Maybe I could give you some lessons seeing as you’ve done a terrible job staying out of here.”

   Stephen was about to reply when he was grabbed from behind by the cloak, which proceeded to wrap around him, pinning his arms. Clint laughed hysterically as Strange cursed. 

   “Let me guess. You watched the cloak sneak up on me the entire time we were talking,” Stephen stated, not amused.

   “Yep,” Clint replied, wiping away tears of laughter. 

   Stephen groaned, “I was going to take the damn potion.” He didn’t bother trying to escape knowing how strong the cloak was. He also knew the cloak cared about him and was trying to look after his welfare. That’s why he was only mildly annoyed instead of angry. 

   “I’m sorry. Please don’t turn me into a frog in my sleep,” Clint asked, holding up his hands in a gesture of peace. 

   “I was thinking something more gruesome than a frog.”

   “Come on, you have to admit it was kind of funny,” Clint replied. 

   “No.” 

   “Are you done?,” Wong asked sighing. He and Matt had been standing there observing the antics for the past couple of minutes.

   “This really isn’t necessary,” Stephen tried. 

   “You know I couldn’t get the cloak off of you even if I wanted to,” Wong replied. It was true. 

   Stephen groaned in frustration. The Cloak patted him on the shoulder. “Stop,” he said, trying to shrug it off. The cloak smacked him on the side of the head lightly. “Hey!”

   “Do you two need a minute alone?,” Clint asked, smirking. 

   “Shut up,” Stephen replied. 

   “Can we get this over with?,” Wong asked. He only had a certain amount of patience and it was wearing thin. 

   “Fine,” Stephen said finally. He knew he wasn’t getting out of it. He also knew he needed to quit being such a difficult pain in the ass. So he choked down another potion, cursing when he finally finished. He was definitely over all of this. 

   “That should be the last of it,” Wong said reassuringly. 

   “ _ Should _ ?” 

   “If you don’t do anything stupid to make yourself sick again.”

   “Trust me, I just want to get through all of this and get back to normal,” Stephen replied.

   “I know. You should be feeling a lot better tomorrow. And completely back to normal by the end of the week,” Wong stated. 

   “Thank you. For all of your help,” Stephen said. He knew Wong had played a major part in his recovery. He was finally really moving towards getting better. 

   “What about me?,” Clint asked.

   “You too I guess,” Stephen replied rolling his eyes. He smirked when Clint flipped him off. “No, but really. Thank you,” he said sincerely. 

   “I know you’d do the same for me. Or for anyone on the team,” Clint said with a shrug. He had seen Strange help several of his teammates, often putting himself in harm’s way to do so. 

   “I owe you both a thank you too, for helping me through this” Matt added. “And you too Stephen. You came to help me and Clint when you were hurt yourself.” 

   “Let’s just agree that we’re all awesome and we’ve got each others’ backs,” Clint stated. 

   “Agreed,” Matt said smiling. 

   “Agreed,” Stephen and Wong added. 

   “Great. How about lunch? I could go get pizza,” Clint said. 

   A while later Wong created a portal for Clint in front of his favorite pizza place near his apartment. He agreed to return in an hour.

   Stephen felt his eyes growing heavier, an effect of the potion, and fell asleep. 

   Wong and Matt talked and an hour later Clint returned with three boxes of pizza. And a dog. 

   “I hope you don’t mind, Lucky’s been missing me. Besides, it’d feel wrong to eat pizza without him,” Clint said, handing the dog a slice. Kate had been watching Lucky for him.

   “Lucky’s always welcome,” Wong said. Clint had brought the dog over before when they had had a team meeting in the Sanctum.

   “Should we wake him up?,” Clint asked, noticing Stephen was asleep. 

   Wong shook his head, “Let him rest for a while. We’ll make sure to save him some food.”

   Clint distributed the slices of pizza and the three of them sat and talked as Lucky made his rounds to get cuddled and eat more pizza. 

   The doorbell rang and Wong got up to answer. 

   “This place has a doorbell?,” Clint asked. He had been picturing an old fashioned brass knocker or something. 

   “We have wifi too,” Wong said as he left the room.

   “What?!”

   A moment later he returned with Christine. She had stopped by to see how things were going. 

   “Oh Stephen,” she said sighing, after noticing he was passed out. Everyone filled her in on what had happened. She accepted a slice of pizza and sat and talked with them until Stephen woke up about an hour later. Christine smiled fondly at how groggy and disheveled he looked. Once he woke up more, the two sat and talked. 

   “I wish you would be more careful,” Christine said. 

   “When have I ever been careful?,” Stephen replied. 

   “I know. I just worry about you and all your weird cult stuff,” Christine said smiling. 

   Even though she and Stephen weren’t romantically involved they were still close. That wasn’t to say it couldn’t happen in the future, but for now she was glad to have him back in her life. Even if that meant she had to put up with all the weirdness that involved. 

   “Well, I’ve been forbidden from doing ‘weird cult stuff’ for a few days,” Stephen replied with a sigh. 

   “Did that dog just eat three slices of pizza?,” Christine asked in surprise, after watching Lucky flip a pizza box open with his snout. 

   “Probably,” Stephen said with a shrug. 

   “Hey, leave some for the rest of us!,” Clint said, grabbing the box from Lucky.

   Lucky pouted and went over to sit on Matt’s lap. Matt laughed as he scratched behind his ears. Lucky wagged his tail, immediately happy again.  

   Christine filled Stephen in on the latest hospital drama while Clint, Matt, and Wong discussed martial arts techniques. 

   Eventually it started getting late and Christine left to get ready for her shift in the morning. Wong ordered Matt and Stephen to get some rest as Clint cleaned up from their impromptu pizza party. 

   Stephen was worried he wouldn’t be able to sleep after taking a nap earlier, but found his eyes drifting closed. The cloak was settled over him and he took in its comforting presence as he drifted off to sleep. 

   Matt felt Lucky settle in beside him and drifted off to sleep surprised at how great the day had turned out; he had actually enjoyed himself. He was glad to finally start feeling better. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help but throw in a pizza dog cameo. For those unfamiliar, in the comics Clint has a dog named Lucky who likes pizza (aka pizza dog) and he's awesome. I would absolutely die if they introduced Lucky to the MCU. 
> 
> Also the Avengers: Endgame trailer was amazing and I've watched it like fifty times and I'm so excited that Clint is Ronin and I just have so many Marvel feelings.


	5. Thank You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Matt and Stephen come up with a plan to thank Wong and Clint for all of their help.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a small epilogue of sorts to wrap everything up!

   It had been about a week since Matt had been cleared to leave the Sanctum. He had gone back a few days later to have Wong and Stephen look him over and had been glad to hear he was in perfect health with no lingering effects of the artifact. He was also glad to see Stephen looking better and was taking things slow. He had been worried the sorcerer would jump back into work too quickly and overdo it. Matt figured Wong and the cloak were keeping him in line. Plus he was sure Strange didn’t want to go through all of that again. Matt knew he sure as hell didn’t.

   So he had taken a few days off to rest and recover. He had spent time with Foggy and Karen and had filled them in on all that had happened. They were, of course, that Matt had gotten himself maimed again, but they were glad he was being honest with them. They were also glad he had had someone to take care of him. They had taken in upon themselves to make sure Matt didn’t jump into action too soon. Matt had been worried having his friends hovering over him would be smothering, but it had actually been nice. The three of them hadn’t been able to hang out for a while so it was good to catch up. 

   Tonight was his first night as Daredevil in over a week. He stood on the rooftop and listened to the sounds of the city. Fortunately, tonight was a pretty quiet night. He knew Frank Castle had taken over watching the city while he was down. While he didn’t agree with his methods, he was glad someone had been out there. 

   He tilted his head as his hearing picked up the sounds of a fight just a few blocks away. He leapt onto the fire escape and ran down, ready to jump into the fight. 

   Stephen sat in the library flipping through a book on magical healing. He had figured in light of recent events it would be good for him to learn more about magical illness. Especially since he was a doctor. He dictated some notes to the Stark Pad sitting  nearby. Despite verbally clashing with Stark whenever they were in the same room he knew the man was generous and thoughtful. He had created a program so Stephen could dictate notes since he couldn’t exactly write. The voice to text program was cutting edge and was definitely better than the ones out there. Stephen had dropped some troublesome paparazzi following Tony through a portal in thanks.  

   He closed the book and looked at the clock. Murdock should be arriving any minute. He carefully flexed his hands and ran through the movements of a simple protection spell. He had been slowly using magic in increasing increments. He was finally starting to feel more like his old self. He and Wong had consulted with other masters and had created a regiment of exercises to built up his magical strength and stamina so that he would be less likely to completely exhaust himself in the future. Part of it was learning his limits and when to ask for help, which he was finally starting to get.

   There was a knock at the door and the cloak swooped past him to answer it. He shook his head fondly; for some reason the cloak loved answering the door. It did help drive away solicitors at least. 

   Matt was walking in the lobby of the Sanctum when he walked in. 

   “Did the cloak just answer the door?,” Matt asked in amusement. He had been confused for a second when the door had opened on its own, but then had heard the rustle of fabric. 

   “Yeah, I didn’t train the it to do that. It does it on its own,” Stephen replied. 

   Matt shrugged. It definitely wasn’t the weirdest thing he had experienced in the past week.

   “When should they be here?,” Matt asked. 

   He and Stephen had been planning this the past few days. Stephen had invited Clint over to the Sanctum with the excuse of updating him on the cult situation. There wasn’t much of an update, the sorcerers at Kamar Taj had things under control. They had detained the cult members and taken away all of the artifacts in their possession. 

   He had told Wong that he needed his help deciphering a spell. The two should be arriving at the same time. 

   “They should be here in about ten minutes,” Stephen said, glancing at the clock. 

   The two sat and talked while they waited for their friends to arrive. They filled each other in on their recoveries, dealing with worried friends hovering, and how happy they were about getting back to work. It felt good to have someone to talk to that understood how hard it was to balance work, relationships, and looking after one’s own health. Stephen had never been good at having a good work-life balance before the accident. He also didn’t have a lot of friends. It was something he was trying to be better about, and Matt understood. 

   There was an obnoxious knock on the door alerting them to the fact that Clint had arrived. The cloak once again flew to the door and Stephen smirked when he heard Clint curse in surprise. 

   “Dude, you need to not have your cape answer the door. It’s weird,” Clint said as he entered the room. Lucky trotted behind him wagging his tail. 

   “Once again it is a cloak, not a cape or a blanket or a poncho. It likes answering the door and I don’t, so it works,” Stephen explained.

   Clint rolled his eyes. “Whatever. It’s still weird.” He then noticed Matt standing to the side. “Hey man! How’s it been going?” Clint was glad to see both of them looking healthy and ok. He had been really worried about Matt when he first got stabbed by that damn artifact. 

   “It’s been going ok. I’m definitely feeling a lot better. I was finally able to go back on patrol,” Matt replied. 

   “Yeah, I heard Castle was out there filling in,” Clint said snorting. The guy was effective, but there was definitely a higher body count involved compared to Daredevil. 

   “I don’t want to talk about it,” Matt muttered. He and Frank had gotten into on a rooftop. He had thanked him for watching over the city then punched him for shooting people. Thus was their relationship. 

   There was a spark and a golden portal appeared with Wong stepping through. “Sorry I’m late, some idiot set the training field on fire again practicing a flame spell,” he sighed wearily. It had been the third time that month this had happened. 

   “You need to get your students under control,” Stephen replied smirking. 

   Wong glared at them. “Oh, and they should be more like you? Breaking into the library and stealing powerful artifacts and texts?” He was still a little touchy about the fact Stephen had managed to sneak books out of the library on his watch. 

   “Look, I apologized about the books. And taking the Eye. And the cloak. But to be fair, the cloak chose me.”

   “Don’t forget about the Book of Cagliostro. And getting yourself and Mordo trapped in the mirror dimension, and…”

   “Ok, we get it,” Stephen interrupted. “I wasn’t the model student.”

   “You were a nightmare,” Wong replied. 

   “So pretty much like now,” Clint replied. 

   “Yeah, except he had no idea what he was doing,” Wong stated. 

   “So pretty much like now,” Clint said again. He laughed when Stephen glared at him. 

   “I hate all of you.”

   “So what exactly am I doing here?,” Wong asked. He had thought Stephen needed help translating a text. That didn’t explain why Matt and Clint were there. He hoped they weren’t up to something stupid. He’d had his limit of stupidity for the day. 

   “We have a surprise for you and Clint,” Stephen replied. 

   “Gods help us,” Wong muttered. 

   “We wanted to thank you for everything you did to help us,” Matt said, stepping over. “So we decided to treat you both to dinner.”

   Stephen pulled out his sling ring and opened a portal. “In Italy.”

   “Italy? Like, the actual Italy?,” Clint asked, excited. 

   “We figured you might like some real Italian pizza,” Stephen replied, stepping through the portal. The other three and Lucky followed behind him. He closed the portal and they stepped out of the small alley onto the street. 

   They were in a small Italian town with a view of the countryside complete with cobblestones and fountains. They approached a small cafe and were seated outside. They ordered several pizzas and sat and ate as they watched the sunset.

   “Well, I guess this makes it worth it putting up with you for a week,” Clint said to Stephen as he fed Lucky another piece. 

   “What about Matt?,” Stephen replied. 

   “Oh, he was a pain too. But you were worse.”

   “I agree,” Wong stated. 

   Stephen sighed and grabbed another breadstick. He honestly couldn’t argue with that. 

   “Well, I am grateful. And I’m sorry I made things difficult,” Stephen said. 

   “It’s who you are. You’re stubborn, proud, self-destructive. We wouldn’t have it any other way,” Clint explained. 

   “Please, stop flattering me,” Stephen replied sarcastically. 

   “They’re not bad qualities necessarily. They’re what make you good at what you do. They just make you a challenge to deal with when you’re down,” Wong added. 

   “Regardless, thank you,” Stephen replied with a small smile. 

   “I really appreciate it. I don’t know what would have happened if you hadn’t stepped in,” Matt added. He was glad to have a team that had his back. He could work on his own still, but he knew he wasn’t alone. 

   “Well then, I propose a toast,” Clint said, holding up his glass. Everyone rolled their eyes, but joined in. “To teammates and hopefully not getting our asses kicked.”

   “I doubt it, but here’s hoping,” Wong replied.

   “To teammates,” Stephen and Matt joined in. The four shared a toast and spent the evening enjoying each other’s company. They knew another crisis would pop up, but that they could handle it if they stuck together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had fun writing this late Whumptober thing and cramming in as many prompts into one story as I could. 
> 
> I'm planning on finishing Anniversaries and Anonymous Agents and then I'm working on a Doctor Who oneshot. And hopefully a Petvengers Christmas special. 
> 
> Thanks to everyone for reading, commenting, and leaving Kudos!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not sure how many chapters this will be exactly. Probably two more. I've already got a good chunk written, so I should be updating fairly quickly.


End file.
